Health call center moving into bank

STOCKTON - The former future Stockton City Hall is now the future hub for major local changes brought by Obamacare.

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By The Record

recordnet.com

By The Record

Posted May. 23, 2013 at 12:01 AM

By The Record

Posted May. 23, 2013 at 12:01 AM

» Social News

STOCKTON - The former future Stockton City Hall is now the future hub for major local changes brought by Obamacare.

San Joaquin County officials recently inked a lease to open a call center on the sixth floor of 400 E. Main St. to help low-income residence newly able to receive health coverage since the passage of the 2010 Affordable Care Act, often called Obamacare.

The eight-story ziggurat building has been called the Washington Mutual building and the Chase building. In 2007, Stockton issued $41 million in bonds to buy the building as a possible new City Hall.

The city's financial troubles ended that plan, and Wells Fargo repossessed the property last year, shortly before the city filed for bankruptcy.

The new call center would be part of the hastily forming network meant to provide health coverage to the uninsured put in motion by the national health care reform.

In California, people shopping around for insurance coverage will be able to buy it from private insurers through the state's health benefit exchange, called Covered California. Quickly approaching changes to the state's health care system also expands Medi-Cal coverage, the program that provides health care to low-income Californians.

Estimates show 53,000 people in the county will be eligible for the private-insurance exchange. There will be three Covered California call centers in the state. But not every county resident who calls will stay on the line with one of these call centers.

If any of the estimated 35,000 county residents eligible for the expanded Medi-Cal coverage call, they will be transferred to the new call center in downtown Stockton. The new requirements for a single adult is an income up to $15,856 for an individual and $32,499 for a family of four.

And the clock is ticking. The call center must be open by Oct. 1.

On Tuesday, the county Board of Supervisors voted to pay about $45,000 a month for four years to lease 25,772 square feet and 54 parking spaces.

The project is being funded by state and federal funding, so there is no cost to the county, according to staff.